What TV show did you last watch a season of on DVD/Blu-ray?

The first thing I can say about this series is that it is not only gory/gruesome...but it is far more imaginative with its gore/gruesomeness than most other shows I watch. The season started off on a particularly nasty note with the most horrific version of pox I’ve seen in a series. Meanwhile, the weirdest part was a dude’s member being replaced by a crow. And that was just the tip of the gross-o-meter/weird-o-meter this season. There was also eyeball removal (and eating!), needles shoved under toenails, someone burned to a crisp (and then their still-alive extra-crispy self hobbling around, all raspy-voiced), cutting pox from someone and consuming it, black puke water, having face clawed/eyes gouged out by crows, brutal stabbings, incest kisses between mothers and sons, fingers bitten off and – worst of all – much killing of cute innocent animals. And that’s not even everything. I’ve watched shows with nasty stuff in them, but this show really seems to push the levels of gross-out stuff to extremes/new heights.

I’d liked the lead actress who plays Mary Sibley in this show, Janet Montgomery, in others things prior to this series...but those other shows hadn’t really ‘utilised’ her well, I didn’t think, so it was great to see she’d scored her own show and that she was playing the main character in it. Her Mary might do stuff that makes her seem ‘unlikeable’ to some, but I personally think Janet Montgomery manages to make Mary as likeble as can be, given the sorts of things her character does to others. No matter what she’s done, I’m still on her side throughout and wishing to see her overcome her adversaries.

It was actually quite sad to see her brought down so low as the season progressed. She went from being one of the most ‘powerful’ (not just as a witch, but status-wise in the village) to losing pretty much everything. I'd grown so accustomed to her carrying herself with dignity and wearing the most pristine/fancy clothes, that to see her reduced to this...



...Was rather upsetting (and apparently when this^ originally aired, it was around the same time as Cersei's 'Walk of Shame' in Game of Thrones - not a good week for female characters, that week). Still, as torn down as Mary got, she still managed to soldier on (even when she was ready to die, she was defiant enough to see done what she needed to complete and/or take others out along with her). By the end of the season, where she seemingly *did* die, it almost seemed like a relief for her - given everything she’d been through. However, I know she’s not gone for good (and just as well too, as the show wouldn’t be the same/worth it without her).

A character who went through probably the ‘biggest’ change/development was that of Anne Hale played by Tamzin Merchant (who I got to watch in The Tudors, which I watched on DVD in between Seasons 1 and 2 of Salem). She started off as so ‘innocent’ in Season 1...well...until she 'accidentally' killed her parents at the end of the season in the most gloriously gruesome of ways, but even in the beginning of Season 2 she still seemed like a girl who didn’t realise what power she possessed and was more or less still a ‘good’ person. However, it wasn’t long after discovering she was in fact a witch that she started sacrificing animals left and right (including her own poor sweet little ‘familiar’, a rat who she called ‘Mr. Jenkins’/’Brown Jenkins’). It was hard watching her drown a kitten, rip heads off various birds and repeatedly killing her ‘friend’/familiar.



It was also sad to see her once sweet relationship she was developing with Cotton Mather (played by Seth Gabel aka Bryce Dallas Howard’s hubby – lucky him, he's with hot redheads on and off camera) turn into something twisted/most assuredly not sweet/innocent. Poor Cotton had enough to deal with, having been forced to kill his father (the rather odd-named Increase Mather - who it was neat to see again this season, albeit briefly, as Stephen Lang always seemed to make the most of playing this character), going somewhat crazy and learning the truth about not only his sole male friend, John Alden, but also who all the witches in town were...including his new bride, Anne. One couldn’t blame him for going slightly nuts...but having Mr. Jenkins (now bigger than he originally was) crammed down his throat and winding up with his mind enslaved by the woman he’d loved even before she cast a spell on him? I honestly can’t see how this can end well for either of them.

Lucy Lawless was a welcome addition this season, as she appeared to be playing her character of Countess Marburg with great relish. Her scenes with Mary were so good, though the incest stuff with her son? Less so (and watching her kiss Mary’s child wasn’t fun either). I enjoyed the different dynamics she had with all the characters, and practically cheered when she threw the supremely annoying Mercy out on her arse after promising her great things, but her character’s one flaw was not seeing how utterly obsessed her Dark Lord, Satan (who she’d devoted her life to), was with Mary and him being all about her rather than the Countess. This led to Mary’s son (possessed by her master) stabbing the Countess, like, a thousand times until she died. If she doesn’t return next season, that will be a shame, as Lucy Lawless brought something special to this season.

I was rather less enthused by the return of Mercy this season. I was so happy to see Mary have her and her fellow lame wannabe witch minions set alight/shot at the start of this season...it was just a shame that she didn’t have Mercy get her brains blown out, as it meant we had to endure extra-crispy Mercy and her smoker’s voice for the first half of the season. While I should feel sympathy for her character and all the crap she’s been put through...I just can’t seem to muster up any, as she brings it on herself by being a traitorous backstabber who only sides with those who she believes can help her get what she wants. She’s an annoying wannabe/'try-hard' who thinks she’s so much more ‘badass’ than she actually is. I delighted in Mary treating Mercy as an annoyance more than a credible threat, and even though I probably shouldn’t have, I enjoyed every bad thing that happened to Mercy, as I felt she so richly deserved it all. Why the writers of the show seem so obsessed with her/think the audience want more of her, I’ll never understand. This is an example of a ‘writers’ pet’ being a detriment to the show, as I feel things would be so much better if they just permanently killed her off. 

I felt so sorry for her one surviving minion, Dollie, who had a sweet relationship with that other long-suffering character who I *did* actually feel sorry for – Isaac. It was such a shame that they weren’t able to get away from Mercy and the Countess and live together happily. I spent all season wishing Mercy dead, so it was quite a disappointment that she was one of only two witches to survive the season final (the other being Anne - though I was happy to see her survive, despite her dark turn. She unlike Mercy, doesn't irritate me). Stop trying to make Mercy happen, show!

John Alden has to be the worst witch-hunter ever. He was given various magical tools to aid him in his witch-hunting, and he had just ONE JOB...but was terrible at it. He only seemed to succeed in killing regular innocent humans who didn’t deserve it, blind seers and a bunch of minions at the end of the season. The rest of the time he was getting tied up, tortured, stabbed, etc. Funnily enough, the most interesting dynamic Shane West as John Alden had on this show was with Seth Gabel’s Cotton Mather. They had an odd sort of ‘friendship’, but it was at least interesting (which is a word that couldn’t really be used to describe Alden’s character the rest of the time).

While I do think this show gave Ashley Madekwe more to do than the previous series I saw her on (Revenge), I can’t say I was that fussed on her character, Tituba. Half the time she seemed to care about Mary and be devoted to her (even if she did things Mary didn’t approve of, such as keeping her still-alive son a secret/hidden from her for years for example), while the other half she appeared to work against Mary and be all back-stabby. Her character just seemed to be a series of contradictions. At least she wasn't as irritating as Mercy.

I can’t say I was a fan of the Hathorne character. He seemed like such a weasel. I’m hoping he’ll get his before the series’ end. I’ve seen Stuart Townsend in a number of things, though he hasn’t ever really impressed me in any of them. Having said that, he had decent chemistry with Janet Montgomery. It was strange that they seemed to get rid of him suddenly, though. The Countess’ son, Sebastian, got a bit more interesting towards the end of the season when he showed that all he really wanted was Mary and no one else, even going so far as to not help his mother when she was being stabbed to death. As for the kid playing young John/Mary’s and Alden’s son...he’s okay in some parts, but rather cringy in other parts. I’m not fussed on kid characters/actors in shows and movies, and very rarely can kid actors portray true menace - the role he’s playing now kind of demands menace, and I’m not sure he’s up to it.

If nothing else, this show has at least one “WTF?!”-worthy moment every episode. It certainly puts all other witch shows to shame and makes them look ‘tame’ by comparison. The way they handle magic in this show is well-done, I think, and feels as 'realistic' as magic in a supernatural series can be. While Season 1 may have had some slow parts, this season felt like things really got moving and there were interesting developments almost every episode. Another tick in the 'plus' column is the memorable opening credits/theme song. I'm not a fan of Marilyn Manson, and I'm not so fussed on the theme song once it gets to the actual singing part, but before that...it's a pretty damn catchy tune.



If the show had ended with this season, I would’ve been pretty ticked off (given who died and who lived), but thankfully there’s one more season to go. I’m hoping Season 3 doesn’t end of a cliffhanger.